Wednesday, July 17, 2013

How We Bought Our New RV

We’ve bought RV’s since we started RVing over 40 years ago to include the last 12 years of full timing. We’ve been had, jerked around, cheated, taken advantage of by the best. Now it’s our turn. Our experience has cost us dearly. First we had to decide for sure what brand we wanted. That in itself is a chore and it was by the wife’s wanted floorplan basically. I chose the manufacture. We stuck with Newmar, Tiffin and Winnebago. We’ve had them all and we (her)decided on the floorplan in the Winniebago Journey line up. I’m real glad about that since we’ve had real good luck with them in the past. We loved our first two Winnie motorhomes. OK, we got the brand and model (floorplan). Next was options. We went over every option and made the final decision as to which ones we had to have, nice to have and didn’t want at all. Next was the interior color and wood and the outside color. OK, we got it all picked out what we had to have, nice to have and didn’t want to pay for (options). NO EXCEPTIONS! Next was to contact dealers thru the manufacturer web site. Then the dealers web sites. They all list their inventory nowadays. We went and saw the actual RVs we wanted. Yes, the salespersons attempted to pester us but that’s OK. I pestered them about their product. They usually shut up after they realized I knew more than they did. Yes, I did my research on the internet. I know I wanted to pay 27% off list. NO EXCEPTIONS! Now our trade. That’s another hard one. What’s it worth wholesale. I called several banks and got an idea. Now I have a price for the new rig and know what I want to pay (27% off) and what my trade is worth. I have a price difference of X amount. I don’t deviate from it. I go lower but not higher. Dealers like to talk payments sometimes. So I was going to be prepared. I called banks and got interest rates and the amount of our monthly payment. When I talked to dealers at this point I low balled them by about another 15% off the difference between our trade in and the new unit and MY price that I have already set. They usually chuckled and shy away. I got some stupid offers from them too. I just chuckled and shy away like them. I narrowed it down to one dealer, Lazydays in FL. We were within $10K via the internet and it was their last offer they said. I said goodbye. I waited about a month and contacted them and several times after that. Eventually they met my original terms and it was almost all done on the internet and a couple of phone calls at the end. Plus no funny fees like dealer fee, prep fees, title fees, doc fees or any fees other than state actual costs. Nothing to prepare any documents other that the ACTUAL cost of the state paperwork. NO EXCEPTIONS. I let them know this at the beginning and I put in writing (email). I require a response on that email. I tell them to figure that in the price it’s that simple. If they say they can’t, I say firmly “NO DEAL.” You have to stand your ground no matter their excuse. Believe me they can do it. If not, WALK AWAY. Call them back towards the end of the month and say that you haven’t changed your mind and if they still want the sale. BE FIRM! We’ve bought two of our last 3 RVs this way. It works. You have to make time work for you to save thousands of dollars. It took almost a year on one and about two months on this one we are getting now. Remember, IF IT’S NOT IN WRITING, IT AIN’T GOING TO HAPPEN – NO EXCEPTIONS! Our new RV was ordered and will be in about mid September. It’s exactly what we want and at the price we wanted – NO EXEPTIONS…

I was dealing with dealers in AZ, CO, CA, UT, PA, VA and several in FL. They included LaMesa, Lazydays, and several Camping Worlds and a couple of small dealers. The next closet dealer ($) was Camping World in Roanoke, VA. Each Camping world is independently owned I think. It saved us as much as $50,000 on this deal. Yepper. You have to be willing to travel to save thousands. It’s an adventure.

I kept ALL emails from all dealers. It was work but well worth it.

I hope this all makes some sense to you and good luck……stand your ground and don’t pay any attention to the dealer’s crying. Most dealers are full of it and are experts when it comes sucking your money out of you.!

Buying a used RV is a a new world. I won’t get into that because there are too many variables.

About Us

Feel free to contact Dennis/Carol at dennisrving@gmail.com Dennis & Carol have been full timing since June 2000. They have owned a variety of RVs over the years. They now have a 36' motorhome but are 5th wheelers at heart. They owned the RV Driving School and sold it Jan 1, 2012.